Fears & Festivities
by LavenderBlues
Summary: Ally had always been scared of Santa Claus. To her, it seemed like Santa was out to get her. She knew she was never going to face her fear. But she did, in the most unexpected way.


**Fears & Festivities**

**by LavenderBlues**

Ally Dawson was scared of a lot of things.

Spiders, ghosts, perky sales clerks at Walmart, but another thing that Ally found on her 'things I'm scared of' list,

highlighted and written in underlined, bold letters was; Santa Claus.

Yes, Ally was afraid of this jolly, overweight, generous man, who spent his free time creeping into sooty fireplaces and stuffing presents in neat, carefully knitted stockings.

She thought it was freaky how he always seemed to know what you were doing.

"Ally, you gotta go downstairs. It's Christmas! Besides, if you want to get rid of that fear of yours, you better do it now."

Ally had always dreamt of the day she'd get rid of her phobia. But in reality, she knew that that was impossible. Getting over stage fright? Yes. But this? A big, fat no.

Trish was busy cramming the third cream bun in her mouth.

Cream buns were a delicacy when it came to Lester Dawson, and he spent Christmas Eve waddling to the nearest bakery to get twelve boxes of the puffy buns, filled with fluffy clotted cream.

Trish didn't mind this. Ally often wondered if Trish only came to Sonic Boom at six o'clock in the morning every Christmas just for the cream buns.

"No. I've told you a million times, Trish, that I am not going to go downstairs."

"You've got to!" Trish's hand wavered to the box of cream buns, her arm reaching to the last one.

Ally swatted it away. If she was going downstairs, she might as well soothe herself down with one of Sally Lunn's cream buns.

She popped it in her mouth. It was still warm from her Dad's late night escapade, and she savoured it's creamy goodness, and the soft bread, baked to perfection.

"Ally, hurry up. There's nothing to be worried of, it's Christmas! A day of joy!"

"That's easy for you to say. You're not scared of... him."

"Ally, I assure you, there will be no Santa Claus downstairs, ready to kidnap you and take you to Maine."

"Fine, I'll go downstairs, but you'll have to check first."

Trish rolled her dark brown eyes, and huffed.

She shook her black curls out of her face, and fixed the Santa hat that was propped delicately on her head.

"Ally, that's pathetic."

But Ally had already gotten to action. She quickly shoved Trish out of the practice room, and prodded her down the stairs.

She quickly slammed the door shut and clicked the lock.

There was a groan from outside the room, obviously Trish. Ally grinned in satisfaction.

A few minutes later, Ally heard Trish bounding up the steps.

Trish pounded on the mahogany door, knocking it so hard that the mint green paint chipped off a bit.

"Ally, from what I see, there's no Santa to take you away downstairs."

Relieved, Ally unlocked and swung the door open.

The day was off to a good start.

"We're good to go then."

Whistling, Ally skipped down the steps two at a time.

She glanced back at Trish, right behind her.

Trish donned an evil smile on her face, which made Ally highly suspicious.

But she shrugged it off and went straight into the store, which was decorated with sprinkles of holly and the armchairs were shrouded with shimmery tinsel.

Ally's eyes darted right back to the armchairs. Not because they looked pretty, or because she was in desperate need for a seat, but because propped right on the plush, velvety sofa, right next to Dez, was unmistakably, Santa Claus.

Okay, it wasn't exactly the actual Santa Claus.

This one wasn't wearing a snowy white wispy beard, and the amount of shaggy blonde hair peeping out of the Christmas hat gave it all away. A pillow was stuffed in his robes, causing his belly to stick out.

Ally had no idea why Austin Monica Moon would dress as Santa, but she was terrified. Her pulse increased by the second, and slowly, she backed away.

But Trish caught her and steered right next to the boys.

"Hi Dez! Hey Austin!"

Austin gave Trish a knowing look and she clasped a hand over her mouth.

"Sorry, Santa."

Austin fixed his unkempt mass of hair and gave her a dark look.

"I think you'll be on the naughty list, DeLarosa."

Trish shrugged.

"I'm on it every year."

Violently, Trish nudged Ally with her extremely pointy elbow. Ally winced at grudgingly broke her contact with the Santa in front of them, to look at Trish instead.

"Say something" mouthed Trish.

"M-merry Christmas." Ally mumbled, not daring to look at any of them.

Dez cocked his head, causing his red hair to fall on his face. He clutched his video camera so tightly his knuckes turned white.

"What's wrong with her?"

Trish, once again, grinned devilishly.

"She has an immense fear, excuse me, phobia, of erm.. Santa Claus."

She ignored Ally's death glare, and waited in bated breath for the pair to react.

"I swear I'll kill her." Ally mumbled, so no one could hear.

Dez's eyes bugged out, making him look like a Zalien.

"Scared of Santa Claus?"

Ally nodded feebly, heat rushing on to her face.

"What kind of household do you live in?" Dez asked, disgusted.

Ally was stung. She had never understood how kids could think that this, high-strung, jovial man was nice.

To her, Santa was and always would be, disturbing.

Austin cleared his throat.

"You mean to say, you're scared of Santa?"

He emphasised on Santa, jabbing a finger at himself as he said it.

Ally shuddered as she heard that name.

Trish answered for her, and nodded enthusiastically.

"So," he said slowly. "If I did this," He took a step towards Ally, and she immediately went backwards.

Trish grabbed her shoulders, stopping her from ploughing back any more.

"And this." He put a hand on her waist. And leaned in. "You'd be scared?"

Now, in normal circumstances, Ally would be thrilled that Austin was going to kiss her.

But now, with that Santa hat dangling above her and that pillow stuffed under his shirt, she did what most people wouldn't do.

She punched him.

Austin flew back, right onto the polished surface.

His Santa cap was lying on a heap on the floor, along with his pillow.

Dez squealed and crouched next to him, taking off his Santa robes to see if there were any bruises.

But there were none. The pillow padded his belly, where the blow had been, and protected him from any harm.

Ally just stood there, staring at her knuckles.

She didn't even know she could send someone flying.

Heck, she didn't even know she could punch.

But there he was, lying on the floor, groaning.

Oh god. Austin.

She skidded on the floor and landed on her butt, right next to him.

That was enough for Trish. She started howling, clutching her insides and asking if Dez got any of that on tape.

Thankfully, Dez hadn't been quick enough to get any footage.

But Ally trained her glance on Austin.

"Are you okay?"

Now that she thought about it. He did look okay. His brown eyes crinkled up, and his face was on the verge of laughter. Austin was good natured, and wouldn't be mad about the whole shenanigan.

"Yeah. You?"

"I think I broke my butt."

She realised she had said that out loud, and resisted the urge to cover her hand over her large mouth.

Austin laughed, and Ally relaxed.

"Now," Austin said, getting up to his feet, "Let's try that again."

Ally's heart was pounding, but this time it wasn't because she was scared.

Austin held a hand out, and she got up, dusting lint from her capris.

Austin pulled her closer, and soon they were kissing.

Austin's lips were soft, and she felt thousands of fireworks welling up in her chest.

When he pulled away, she was almost disappointed.

But she was grinning from ear to ear.

"I got that on tape, Trish." Dez boasted.

Ally barely listened, she was too busy smiling at Austin, who looked a bit like her.

Shocked but pleased.

And it turns out, maybe the best way to face your fear is to kiss it.


End file.
